“I’ve already asked my father for help. If he can’t even help me, how could I expect you to? We haven’t even seen each other in years. Besides,” she says, her voice faltering. “I’ve asked every single one of my friends, and no one could help.”
My brother’s face betrays his hurt. I’ve never seen him care much about anything, least of all a girl. If anyone other than Elena had come knocking on our door, he’d indeed have denied their request for help, no matter how severe the situation. Elena was always his weakness though. My selfish prick of a brother would always save her his last bites of pizza, watch chick flicks with her, and one time when they were little, I even caught him separating M&Ms by color, because Elena only likes the yellow and red ones.
“We were once close friends too, Elena. I’d have been there for you,” Lucian says.
Elena nods and grabs his hand, entwining their fingers. She looks at him with such tenderness, and he looks at her the same way. They’re already lost in their own little world, and it seems like they were never even apart.
“Even if I did come to you for help and you agreed, you’d help me maybe once or twice before I’d turn into a burden. I need a huge amount of money, Lucian. It’s not right of me to rely on you like that.”
I sigh. I can’t fault her for wanting to stand on her own two feet and not trusting anyone else with her mother’s life. She’s right. How long can an outsider provide her with the type of financial assistance she needs?
Lucian clenches his jaw the way he does when he’s trying to bite his words back, and I wonder what he wants to say. I’ve never seen my baby brother so animated before.
“I’d help you unconditionally,” he says.
Elena shakes her head. “I need at least sixty-thousand dollars by the end of the month, and even more over time. That’s not something I can just ask of you.”
Lucian begins to reply, but I cut him off. “We’ll discuss this at home,” I say, my tone sharp. Lucian looks at me helplessly, and my heart softens. He’s looking at me like he used to when we were still children. Like I’m his hero. He hasn’t looked at me with such faith in years.
The driver parks in our driveway and Lucian jumps out, extending his hand to Elena. My eyes drop to her legs, reminding her to be careful when she steps out of the car, and she blushes, nodding at me. However, my brother must’ve interpreted her blush differently, because he blushes in return, his gaze firmly pasted on her face.
An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach as I watch them interact. I accompany them into the house, the two of them clearly already in their own bubble.
Chapter 11
E lena
I follow Lucian and Alexander into their home, pausing at the doorstep as memories assail me. I spent a lot of my childhood in this mansion. I might know every nook and cranny as well as Lucian does. Other than some new furniture, nothing much has changed, and walking in here still feels like coming home—more so than my own childhood home does these days.
I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed this. How much I’ve missed Lucian and the time we spent together. I’ve been so busy working and caring for my mother that I haven’t really stopped to think about how lonely I’ve become. How isolated I’ve let myself become.
Growing up, Lucian was always the brother I wish Matthew was, and I suddenly feel bad for not trying harder to stay in touch. I should’ve contacted Lucian as soon as I left home, but by that time it’d been too late. We hadn’t spoken in years, and we’d grown too far apart. I felt too guilty, even though I know I had no choice but to break off contact.
“Sarah?”
I look up at the mention of my mother’s name. Lucian’s mother jumps up from the sofa when she sees me and walks towards me, her eyes wide.
“No… Elena ?”
She wraps me in a tight hug and I squeeze back just as hard, holding back tears yet again. I can’t remember the last time someone hugged me like this, yet today two people have held me close.
“Sofia,” I whisper, as though saying her name out loud will wake me up from this nostalgic dream. Sofia kisses the top of my head and tightens her hug.
Alexander clears his throat, and I reluctantly step back. He’s looking at his mother with an expression I can’t decipher. It’s almost like he hasn’t seen her in a long time, but I clearly remember him telling me he took her out for lunch recently.
“Elena is moving in with us,” he says.
My eyes widen in shock. Alexander and I have never discussed anything of the sort, and I haven’t actually told him that I’ve been struggling to pay my own bills, that I’m worried sick about both my own future and my mother’s.
I glance at Lucian, who looks just as shocked as I do, but Sofia merely nods and hums in agreement. “All right,” she says, no questions asked. “I’ll get the staff to prepare a room for her.”
I bite down on my lip in an effort to keep my tears at bay. Part of me wants to decline and retain my pride, to demand an explanation from Alexander, and ask him why he thinks he has the right to make decisions on my behalf. But then I remember what my alternative is and bite my tongue.
“A word please, Elena,” Alexander says. He tips his head toward the grand staircase and I follow him obediently, still at a loss for words.
“The layout of this entire floor has changed,” I murmur in surprise.
Alexander pauses and looks back at me. “Yeah. Two years ago, we renovated most of the house. Lucian, my parents, and I each have separate quarters now. They’re all still in the same building, but they’re essentially different apartments.”
He leads me into his bedroom and I follow, barely able to contain my curiosity. It looks like he knocked down several walls to create a loft-like space, resulting in a large luxurious room, with its own seating area, a huge bed, and a freestanding tub right by the floor to ceiling windows. It’s quite obvious that Alexander has created his own little sanctuary here, and I can’t help but be impressed with how tasteful and luxurious it all looks.
Alexander leads me to his seating area and I sit down opposite him, rather than next to him, purposely creating some distance between us. With everything that’s going on, I’m feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and embarrassed. I can barely think straight. My mind keeps wandering back to Vaughn’s, and the way he touched me. I hate myself for how much I enjoyed it. It’s like my own body betrayed me, and I’m too scared to even imagine what Alexander might think of me now.
He stares me down in that way he used to when he was giving Lucian and me a chance to confess to whatever it was we’d been up to that day.
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what’s going on with you?”
I shake my head. “It seems like you already know more than I would’ve told you.”
I’m not stupid. I know how the Kennedys operate. I know he’d have done a background check on me the moment he realized who I am, and I’m not comfortable with how much that would have revealed about me. About the way I’ve been living my life, and how far I’ve strayed from the girl he used to know.
Alexander’s expression softens and he smiles at me pleadingly. “I’d still like to hear it from you,” he says, his voice soft.
I hesitate. There’s nothing I can say that he doesn’t already know, and at least this way he’ll hear my version of the story. So I tell him. I tell him about my father and stepmother, about their refusal to pay for my mom’s bills, my stepsister’s schemes, and my difficulties paying my own bills. Alexander just listens to me patiently, nodding every once in a while to encourage me to keep talking.
“I see,” he says when I finish telling him my story. No questions, no judgement. Just simple understanding. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Other than telling Lucian about the basics in the car, I haven’t told anyone the full story, and it feels nice to get it off my chest.
“What are you going to do now? Even if you did attempt to sell your body at Vaughn’s club, you’d at most make 20k a month, and that’s at most . That likely won’t even be enough to cover your mother’s bills on most months, let alone your own expenses on top of that.”
I shake my head. “Honestly, I don’t know. I have another week until my mother’s current bill is due, or they’ll take her off life support. I figured I’d go to Vaughn’s and then take it from there. It’s not like I have any other options. I’ve asked my dad for help countless times and he’s always refused. I’m not in touch with any of my old friends either, not since I left home.”
Just the thought of my mother being taken off life support sends shivers down my spine. I’m terrified, and I hate feeling this helpless. Alexander looks at me and then looks away.
“I can give you the money. Under one condition.”